What role can mindfulness plan in promoting well-being? What aspects lend themselves to psychotherapy? Are there any dangers in a mindfulness approach? In his address at APA's 2018 Annual Convention, Jon Kabat-Zinn reveals the essential ingredients in living a mindful life.

Jon Kabat-Zinn's talk "Mindfulness as a Way of Being—in Psychotherapy and in Life" at APA's 2018 Annual Convention.

More Information about Jon Kabat-Zinn's Address

On Aug. 3, 2018, The American Psychological Association’s Div. 32 (the Society for Humanistic Psychology) announced that mindfulness pioneer, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, was our special invited speaker at the upcoming 126th Annual APA Convention in San Francisco. The founder of the UMass Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society discussed “Mindfulness as a Way of Being—in Psychotherapy and in Life" on Fri., Aug. 10, 10-11:50 a.m. at the Moscone Convention Center, Rooms 153/155, Upper Mezzanine-South Building. Attending via videoconference, Kabat-Zinn addressed critical issues at the interface of mindfulness and psychotherapy, led participants in mindfulness practice, was interviewed by two APA clinical psychologists and engaged in Q&A directly with the attendees.

In forty years, mindfulness has gone from a relatively unknown element of Buddhist meditation practice into the mainstream of medicine, health care and the broader society. The National Institute of Health (NIH) supports millions of dollars of research on its health effects and mechanisms of action. Mindfulness is also increasingly covered in the media.

Mindfulness is a foundational element of many psychotherapies, including Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP). These interventions are modeled on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an outpatient approach founded by Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979 to train medical patients with chronic pain and stress-related conditions in intensive mindfulness meditation. MBSR is now the mindfulness intervention of choice or a model for other mindfulness-based programs in hospitals, clinics and therapy rooms across the United States and around the world.

Yet popularization has been accompanied with exaggerated claims for its effectiveness, as well as to people claiming to teach mindfulness who do not practice it themselves. In this one hour and fifty-minute session, Kabat-Zinn will describe his understanding of mindfulness and the challenges facing the field at this particular moment in time.

APA Psychologists interviewing Jon Kabat-Zinn:

Donna Rockwell, PsyD, Div. 32 president, is a licensed clinical psychologist, mindfulness meditation teacher with expertise developed over 20 years in Shambhala International meditation training and adjunct faculty at Saybrook University. A grant recipient of the Marjorie S. Fisher Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan to establish The Mindfulness Initiative, Rockwell designed the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy course curriculum for the Michigan School of Professional Psychology, training graduate students in mindfulness-based theory and clinical practice. Rockwell now teaches, Mindfulness and Meditation in Health at Saybrook’s College of Integrated Medicine and Health Sciences.

Holly Hazlett-Stevens is an associate professor at the University of Nevada. She is the author of two books, "Women Who Worry Too Much: How to Stop Worry & Anxiety from Ruining Relationships, Work and Fun" and "Psychological Approaches to Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to Assessment and Treatment." She is a co-author of "New Directions in Progressive Relaxation Training.” Since 2010, Hazlett-Stevens has received over 260 hours of professional education in MBSR instruction and is a CFM certified MBSR Instructor, and she received formal, professional training in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).